Take time to be healthy

Neglecting your health is bad for business, and leaders need to set the example. MARCIA GRIFFIN

This week I had a call from a friend, which was a wake up call that I would like to share.

I had mentioned to him that I had a colonoscopy – must have been a fun dinner party conversation in retrospect! As a consequence, he decided to have one also, and his doctor’s comment was: “Pity you had not had time to have one last year.” My friend is about to have major surgery as this goes to print, not knowing if the polyp is benign or cancerous.

For my own part, I too only had a colonoscopy after being persuaded by a friend. And last year one of my closest friends died suddenly of a heart-related condition – she was waiting for the end of her summer holidays to check out her heart issues.

It’s strange how as humans we have our cars serviced, our appliances repaired, our houses checked by plumbers, electricians and carpenters; and yet when it comes to our most precious possession – our body – we can be very neglectful.

Yet think of what we put our bodies through on a daily basis; stress, pollution, we ingest chemicals in our food, we apply chemicals to our skin. All of this is done often without thinking, without questioning.

So often in my life I have been too busy to take care of the things that really matter. I now consider myself very lucky that that neglect has not killed me and I now have a very different approach. Health comes absolutely first. Nothing is more important than that.

Nothing is more about sustainability than one’s health or the health of one’s team.

Healthy people are critical to business success, and as CEO one has to be a leader around health.

This does not mean that we need to become paranoid but rather recognise that good health needs to be part of our thinking and our business culture. As the saying goes: Treat your body like a temple, not an amusement parlour!

So a few questions:

• When did you have your last big check up?
• Do you treat your body as your most precious possession or does it come after the dog, car etc?
• Are you doing the best you can to be fit and healthy?
• Do you encourage people around you – your family, friends, work team – to take care of their health?
• How healthy is your business culture and business environment?
• How safe is your business environment?
• What do you do as a leader to encourage good health? What example do you set as a leader?

It’s no use promoting good health as an idea to others if you don’t exercise, if you eat poorly, smoke, drink excessively and are overweight. Aside from legal compliance, as leaders and role models we should be pro-active in ensuring that we do all we can to keep healthy and keep our team healthy.

It’s the least we can do as responsible leaders to set the standards. After all, one’s attitude to good health is hard to hide – it’s clearly demonstrable in our persona.

To read more Marcia Griffin blogs, click here.

High Heeled Success is Marcia Griffin’s latest book, and is a frank account of building a business from a solitary sales person to a multi-million dollar business with 4700 sales consultants around Australia and New Zealand. It recounts successes and failures along the way and was written to inspire entrepreneurs-particularly women to triumph in business.

High Heeled Success (Kerr Publishing) is available directly from Marcia (marcia_Griffin@msn.com.au) or Domain Books www.domainbooks.biz.